Sports at Lunch, Kevin Towers and Bruce Bochy

Kevin Towers and Bruce Bochy were talking baseball at the Hall of Champions to a gathering of Sports-at-Lunch guests. The Super Bowl had been played a day earlier, and Towers and Bochy consider that the signal to start packing for spring training.

“It’s time to go back to work,” Bochy said. “When the Super Bowl is over, I start to get charged up.”

Towers, the Padres, general manager, and Bochy, the field manager, are confident 2004 can gain back the two or three wins – if not more – that the Padres lacked a year ago to advance the playoffs when they finished with 87 wins.

It didn’t long for Towers and Bochy to spell out why they think the Padres will be better than they were a year ago when their chase of a National League West title came down to the final week and shot at the wild-card playoff berth went down to the final weekend.

Problem: “We lacked guys who won,” said Towers, citing a lineup of young players or veterans who haven’t been with winning organizations before joining the Padres.

Solution: The Padres added center fielder David Roberts, a Rancho Buena Vista High alum who wears a World Series ring after being traded from the Dodgers to the Boston Red Sox at midseason.

Problem: The Padres lost rookie shortstop Kahlil Green and third baseman Sean Burroughs to injuries down the stretch, leaving holes in the left side of the infield.

Solution: No moves were necessary, now that Green and Burroughs are healthy and have gained another year of experience. Burroughs also is expected to be more comfortable batting lower in the batting order now that he won’t be asked to lead off with the additions of Roberts and Eric Young to the roster.

Problem: If the Padres had won games as consistently at home as they did on the road, they would have run away with the National League West instead of looking up to division champion San Francisco and wild-card entry Los Angeles.

“I think we’ll play better at home this year,” Bochy said. “We know now we can’t sit back and wait on the long ball. It’s a tough park to hit a home run. We have to play well in all facets of the game. This can be a better year for us. We don’t have to wait for power this year. We’ve got some guys who can run.”

Problem: The Padres struggled with come up with pinch hits or play off the bench late in games.

Solution: “The bench was probably our weakness last year,” Towers said. “I’ve always thought the bench can be worth three to five wins a game. When you don’t have a bench, it ties your manager’s hands.”

Problem: The Padres didn’t have a No. 5 starter in the second half of the season, the most most glaring area where the pitching let down a team that only needed a couple of more wins to advance to the postseason.

Solution: “I’m going to go out on a limb and say Darrell May (the No. 5 starter) is going to win 10 to 15 games for us,” Towers said. “Last year he wasn’t in a ballpark that was conducive to a fly-ball pitcher. We lost Boomer (David Wells), but we brought in Woody Williams, and I think he’s going to be a better pitcher than he was when he was here the first time. I think our pitching staff is strong from top to bottom.”

The offseason of filling holes is complete. Now the Padres will find out if their roster has a completeness about it.